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Chapter 26 – Pigs
“Fire in the everglades happens often, I doubt anyone will come looking until sunrise.” I heard Mitza speaking as I opened my eyes.
“What happened?” I linked Mateo.
“I removed the bullet, but you’ve been out for about ten minutes. The poison isn’t deadly to you. I think it has something to do with your internal fire. Your system burned it off and your heart rate returned to normal before I could even give you a healing. I removed the bullet, and your leg looks fully recovered.” He held out my clothes.
I shifted and dressed. The fire was still smoldering, but there was nothing left of the camp. I wondered how many more camps they had and where they were.
“How are you doing?” I asked Mitza. Who still had visible bruising on her face. She didn’t shift often, so her healing would be much slower.
“Better now Alpha.” She bowed her head.
“Should we get back to the airport and see if we can rent another helicopter or find a seaplane to search for the lab?” Mateo asked and I gave him a nod.
Mitza sat behind Mateo as we maneuvered our way out of the everglades and drove past Homestead towards Miami. I must have eliminated at least four hundred hunters tonight and Miller. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Randall and Azazel. There was something Miller said that didn’t seem to make sense about Azazel.
Azazel was part of the shifters council. Miller referred to Azazel as the grandfather of Magnus. Magnus poisoned my grandfather Lukas about forty-five years ago. How was it possible that Azazel would be alive for so long? Witches and warlocks have the same life expectancy as humans.
“Maybe it’s a different warlock, named after an ancestor?” Apollo suggested.
I thought about Mitza and the condition we found her in. Images of my mate tied to a similar chair floated through my mind and Apollo let out a wild snarl. I needed to find my mate and my pup. My poor little guy, I prayed Lukas wouldn’t shift and give himself away. A research lab is the last place for a werewolf pup.
We pushed top speeds on the motorcycles and returned to the Miami airport. I called Chris who informed me they had found nothing flying in the Bermuda direction. They were returning to the airport to refuel. The ocean was so vast, we’d need a lot of luck on our side. I dialed Wylder next. Zeus and Wylder flew their helicopter in the direction of Puerto Rico but were also on their way back to refuel. It was nearly four in the morning and the sun would be rising in about two hours. The ship would be further away from Miami, but we would have better visibility at daybreak.
Mateo went in search of breakfast sandwiches and coffee. I called Grandpa Crow and told him about Miller and what was said about Azazel. To my surprise, he informed me Azazel is the twin brother of Ambrose and they were both born warlocks. They became estranged once Ambrose was turned into a vampire.
Azazel claimed to be blessed by an angel to explain his long life. Grandpa Crow always suspected Azazel was using dark magic but could not prove it. I told him what was said about Magnus being the grandson and The Tears Of The Moon.
“It would certainly make sense. Warlocks tend to inherit the strength of their magic through their family genes. Azazel is a grand warlock, as was Ezra and his son Magnus.”
“But why is Azazel trying to wipe out werewolves?” I asked.
“That’s a good question, maybe Ambrose knows something. I’ll speak with him and let you know.”
Chris and Conner landed their helicopter first and a fuel tanker moved in to refuel. I introduced Mitza and explained what happened in the everglades. Zeus and Wylder landed the second helicopter a short while later and joined us in the private hangar while the helicopter was being refueled. The helicopters seated five people, two in the front and three in the back.
Mitza probably needed to rest and get cleaned up, but I didn’t want to leave her without protection. She had already suffered enough because she had spoken with me. Wylder was happy to see her again, but I could sense the anger stir in him when I told him what had happened to her. When the helicopters were refueled, we set off again. Mitza went with Chris and Conner, while Mateo and I joined Zeus and Wylder.
We continued the search for hours and with each hour, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Once we were over the open water and away from land, I willed the air to carry the helicopter faster, which would allow for less fuel consumption.
“The tracking radar is going to look strange, but since we’re flying over the Bermuda triangle, I suppose anything odd doesn’t need to be explained.” Zeus laughed.
I considered getting out and flying but we kept dipping down to get a better look at the ships sailing. After flying around for several more hours and stopping to refuel in the Grand Bahamas, Apollo was getting frustrated. I called Chris to check in, they had no luck and were currently refueling in Fort Lauderdale.
“Maybe he’s using a cloaking spell on the ship?” Wylder suggested as we continued our search.
“The Royal Bahamas Navy is reporting a shipwreck near Exuma Island!” Mateo said as he listened to the radio chatter.
“Hang on everyone, sharp right turn.” Zeus announced as he turned the helicopter in the southern direction.
“There are over three hundred islands in the Exuma chain, did they specify which island?” I asked and he sat quietly listening.
“Explosion on the ship. They’re looking for survivors. North of Great Exuma island.” Mateo announced. “What if it’s not the ship we’re looking for?”
“Something is telling me it is!” Apollo was on edge, and I was ready to jump out of the helicopter and fly. If they’re looking for survivors, maybe they’d find my mate. 
Apollo let out a howl in my head, giving me a headache. “Calm down. If something happened to her or Lukas, we would have felt the pain. They’ll be okay.” I floated the helicopter faster and faster.
“Slow down. I see something up ahead.” Zeus yelled and I could see the wreckage of a ship floating in the blue waters ahead.
“I’m going to drop into the water and have a look around.” I said as I pushed the door open.
“Ares, be careful, they’ll have divers in the water.” Mateo called out as I dropped into the water.
I used my water element to propel me through the ocean water. It seemed so much easier after I received the blessing from the Gods. I didn’t even need to swim anymore. It was easier for me to move through water than it was running on land. I didn’t need to surface for air anymore, I had mastered using my elements in conjunction with one another. If I needed to breathe, I could pull an air bubble below and fill my lungs with air.
Two small boats circled in the distance, and I didn’t sense any search and rescue divers in the water. The ship wreckage had been burned and parts lay scattered along the ocean floor. The stern of the ship, where the engine and boiler room is located at the very back, suffered a big blast. There was nothing left to it. The hull of the boat had also been hollowed out, most likely due to the explosion of the fuel tanks.
I looked closer at the wreckage, trying to figure out if it was a small passenger cruise ship. There were no signs of vacation goers. I wasn’t even sure how long the wreck had been here. The surface of the water couldn’t be more than sixty feet, so the wreckage didn’t have far to sink.
“Ares, we’re flying overhead. I don’t see any signs of lifeboats out in the distance.” Mateo mind linked me.
“There’s not much left to the ship down here either. Lots of charred metal.” I replied as I moved to a section that looked like the captain's bridge.
Something splashed above me and was swimming towards me. I half expected an opportunistic shark when I caught the sight of my Beta’s red hair glimmering in the water. He gave me a wave and continued to swim around the sunken ruins of the ship. Wylder could breathe underwater thanks to his night with the Goddess of the sea, but he still had to swim to stay down.
“Let us know when you’re ready to be picked up.” Zeus linked.
“Looks like a bomb went off.” Wylder said through the mind link.
I nodded. “It started in the rear of the ship and then the fuel tanks blew through the hull of the ship.”
“I think I see the smoke funnel over there. Look it’s black!” He was right, it was painted black and looked like the one in the photograph Chris had taken of the ship.
“Wait a minute!” I moved to a big chunk of the ship that was the bow of the boat.
“What is it?” Wylder linked me.
“The name of the ship, Tears of The Moon.”
“Named after Azazel’s kiss of death!”
“This is it. They had to have evacuated on the lifeboats to the nearest islands.” I said as I took in the burned and sunken lifeboats still attached to parts of the docking stations. Apollo let out a nervous whine.
“Zeus, this is the ship. Do you see any land in the distance?” I linked him.
“Not from here, but hundreds of Exuma Islands big and small sit east of here and the southern tip of Andros Island is west of here.”
“Fly east, I’m taking Wylder with me. I’ll move through the ocean, following the current. Hopefully, it carries us to them.”
“Can you feel the direction of the ocean current right now?”
“Southeast. Have Mateo call Chris and let her know we found the ship.”
“Roger that, we’ll fly above.”
I grabbed ahold of Wylder’s arm and zipped us through the water following the current. The topography of the ocean floor changed as we neared the chain of islands. There were shells of other wrecks, small planes, and boats. I brought us to the surface to have a better look above. The current had taken us further south, and we lost the helicopter.
“Where’s Zeus?” Wylder asked.
“He may have moved faster than we did, and the current seems to have taken us more south than southeast,” I told him.
“But there’s land right over there. He would have beat us here, wouldn’t he?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure how fast we were moving underwater.” I admitted. “We better get moving. The sun will set in about an hour.
We glided in the water, just below the surface and moved closer to land. I looked out again to see if the island was inhabited. I couldn’t see any buildings from where we were at. Something in the water was moving closer to us. It was big and it was paddling towards us.
“Is that a dog swimming towards us?” Wylder asked.
“There’s more following it. They’re swimming this way. It looks like… No, it can’t be.” I must have been hallucinating. There wasn’t a farm on an island, was there?
“Are those… swimming pigs?” Wylder pointed to the creatures moving towards us in the water. “Can pigs swim?”
“They’ve got snouts and pink ears. I’m pretty sure they’re pigs.” I answered and noticed something moving on the shore. It moved low and crouched behind a green shrub. I kicked up the wind to try and move the shrub, long curly hair floated in the air. It wasn’t my mate’s hair, but I hoped the woman behind the shrub might know something.
“Did you see her?” Wylder asked through the mind link as we neared the sandy shore of the beach.
“Yes. If she asks, our small fishing boat is docked on the north side of this island.”
“Maybe these are her pet pigs, and she thinks we’re here to poach them.” Wylder replied.
“Hello!” I called out as we stepped on the white sandy beach. She scrunched down even closer to the ground, trying to make herself invisible.
“We need your help, please.” Wylder said and she made no move.
I stepped closer to her shrub and felt the aura of a very weak wolf. I moved the air to blow in my direction and carry her scent. Wylder stood stiff as he realized she was a werewolf too. A low growl came from her direction and the bush behind her moved. It was a wolf, not a werewolf, but an actual wolf. I considered ripping his head off for growling at me and was distracted when the scent of my mate filled my nose.
“Hazel, is everything okay? Earl just ran off and I was—” She stopped in her tracks when her eyes met mine.
“Eudora!”
“Ares?”
“Oh thank the Gods!” I rushed to her, wrapping my arms around her, and was relieved when I sensed the energy of my growing pup. “Where’s Lukas?”
“He’s over there, taking a nap on Chip.” She pointed to our sleeping son, he was wrapped in the carrying sling and sound asleep on a big dog. I look closer and realized the big dog was actually another wild wolf.
“Where did you find the wolves?” I asked.
“Better yet, where did you find the pigs?” Wylder pointed to dozens of pigs standing at the opposite end of the beach.
“Ares, can you hear me?” Zeus called through the mind link.
“Yes! Zeus, I found them. We’re on an island, the current carried us further south.”
“Chris and Conner are on their way. There’s a lot of islands here. Can you give me some kind of signal?”
I looked up at the sky and sent a flame of fire into the air. “Can you see that?” I asked.
“Yes, you’re way over there. We’re on our way.” He linked back.
“Look for the island of swimming pigs.”
“Swimming pigs?”
“It’s okay Hazel. He’s my mate. He won’t hurt you.” Eudora said as she reached for the scared looking she-wolf.
“Hazel?” I asked. “As in Tymber’s roommate?”
“Yes. It’s a long story.” My mate answered.
“We’ve got time. Ares can roast a pig or something.” Wylder grinned.